Qtrade Investor Review

Updated on: Feb. 8, 2019
Qtrade Investor – a division of Qtrade Financial Group – is an independent (non-bank owned) online brokerage headquartered out of Vancouver, British Columbia. Despite their smaller size, Qtrade has formed partnerships with many financial institutions, credit unions in particular, in order to provide online brokerage services to their partners’ clients. Early in 2013, Desjardins (parent to Desjardins Online Brokerage/Disnat) acquired a significant ownership portion in Qtrade.

As with their discount brokerage peers, Qtrade Investor allows clients to trade stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and options. Qtrade is part of a small group of online brokerages that offers commission-free ETF trading on select ETFs. Click here for a detailed review of their commission-free ETFs.

No fees if 2 trades per quarter or at least $25,000 in assets or preauthorized deposits of at least $100 per month are made.

RESP

Annual Charge

$100 (if assets

Transfer Out

$150

US Dollar Account

Last updated: Nov. 12, 2017

Pricing & Fees

As of September 26th 2014, Qtrade is officially part of the group of online brokerages offering sub-$10 standard commission trades. Their new pricing has two tiers known as “investor” and “investor plus”.

For the “investor” pricing tier, equity commissions are $8.75 per trade and options trades are $8.75 + $1.25 per contract. The next commission pricing tier, “investor plus” offers clients equity commission fees of $6.95 per trade, however to be eligible for this pricing clients must either trade 150 (or more) times per quarter or have at least $500,000 in assets with Qtrade.
While they have reduced commission fees, Qtrade Investor has introduced administration fees of $25 per quarter for clients with combined Qtrade account balances under $25,000. Fortunately, the fee may be waived by placing at least 2 commission generating trades per quarter.

The fees for US dollar accounts has increased from $50 per year to $60 per year ($15/quarter) and the fee structure for registered accounts has also changed: the minimum threshold to avoid administration fee is now $25,000 (combined across all accounts) and the amount of the administration fee is now $100 per year.

In both categories of account, individuals are able to trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds and options. Like other Canadian online brokerages, there are some restrictions. Short selling and complex options trading are only allowed in margin accounts and there are limitations on options trading in registered accounts.

Platform/Data

Qtrade offers a primarily web-based trading platform. From web-based platform it is possible to perform the standard order functions present with most brokerages. In terms of accessing additional market data, Qtrade also offers Qtrade Streamer which provides 15 minute delayed data for $1.99/mo or $14.99 + exchange fees per month for real time. For level 2 depth, the cost comes to $34.99/mo + exchange fees.

We contacted Qtrade to get an answer to your question. Yes, Qtrade Investor does offer margin accounts (note: SparxTrading does not offer accounts of any kind). The rate that they charge for debit balances depends on the amount borrowed.

I know nothing about trading stocks, I’ve done my research in the market but I haven’t been successful in locating a broker that can help guide me through the process, is there any information you could provide to new comer like myself.

Good question. For Qtrade Investor, if you are in a position then the total account equity on a cash account can dip below $1,000 (e.g. cash + stocks you may have purchased). If it’s just cash, however, the balance has to be at least $1,000. I would recommend calling Qtrade Investor directly to clarify – they are generally pretty quick to answer the phone (1.877.787.2330).

Unfortunately, QTrade will charge you $25 every quarter that you don’t make a trade, which if you have $1000 to play with, can really cut into your play money. I had a registered account and after getting tired of the $25 fees I decided to close the account at which point I learned about a $125 administration fee associated with closing an account. Overall, a little unimpressed with all of these pieces. I suppose some of these fees were likely shown in some fine print somewhere, but I wish it been more upfront hence why I’m a bit sour and leaving this review.